


Coming Home

by mobius_stripper



Series: All I Have [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-04 17:52:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11560335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mobius_stripper/pseuds/mobius_stripper
Summary: Filling in Pepper's story from Age of Ultron, Civil War and Spiderman: Homecoming.  Because that's what I do.





	Coming Home

**Author's Note:**

> only kinda retconning the other fics to line up with the canon.  
> Spoilers for Spiderman: Homecoming, but since it's been out for two weeks, I feel like it's okay.

**Age of Ultron**

The Avengers destroy a castle in Sokovia.  Her phone gets so many texts it vibrates itself off the table.  Pepper ignores it.  When she finally gets around to reading her messages she doesn’t reply to any of them except Tony’s request to have a party in their penthouse.  She just taps out ‘go ahead im busy’ and contemplates if saying ‘no, we’re not rewarding you getting shot at any more’ would have been worth it.  

 

The next message she gets from Tony is a stuffed bunny which means she need to get to a safehouse right NOW.  There’s a heavy weight in her chest, a ball of anxiety and annoyance that just gets tighter and tighter the longer she has to go without internet.  She doesn’t even turn on the TV until after a long internal debate on whether she wants to see Tony’s entire sordid past dissected yet again by a panel of ‘experts’.

 -

Pepper is getting the walking tour of the new Avengers facility (and trying to talk Tony out of buying a farm because what would they even do with a farm? It would _maybe_ solve two of the problems they are having right now) when Wanda stalks around a corner.  Steve, ever the polite host, introduces them.  Pepper shakes the girl’s hand without any of the hesitation she’s holding inside apparent in her grip.

Miss Maximoff may be able to read minds but her poker face is practically non-existent.  Pepper doesn’t need her years of reading people to know what the newest Avenger is thinking.

 -

Derek is getting married today.  He’s an excellent employee and a work friend, but they are not close.  Pepper suspects she was mostly invited because of the bride.  Still though, it is a lovely day for a wedding.  Pepper doesn’t actively hate being there, which is as good as she’s going to get for weddings.  Then the speeches start, and she’s assaulted by crying, smiling family and friends taking turns at the microphone telling everyone how Derek and Jess make each other better people.  Pepper’s first thought is that Tony Stark does no such thing for _her_.  Her next is that she isn’t exactly doing it for him either.  

 

She spends the rest of the reception thinking hard and chatting idly with Derek’s aunt, who has been given the seat next to her.  Pepper determines that while she still loves him, she’s not happy being with Tony.  She’d still do anything for him, but he doesn’t need her to anymore.  

 

She texts him.  ‘We need to talk.  I’ll be back by 10 tonight to discuss if you want.  And you’re around’.  The little jab at how often he has to fly off into the sunset being a hero gives her a petty thrill as she hits SEND.

 

It’s 10:12 when Tony shows up, looking like he’d rather do another round with the genocidal robot.  The ensuing argument includes the words ‘I _am_ Iron Man’ no fewer than eight times and after another twenty minutes of yelling Tony breaks up with her.  More accurately, it’s 12 minutes of yelling, two more of pained quiet and then,

“I’m killing you.  You’re the one thing I can’t live without and I’m… I don’t want to be the reason you can’t live with yourself.  Yeah. I need to go, or you need to go, but we can’t keep going like this.”

He’s got his martyr-face on, the one he wore for a month after the Extremis thing.  He’s SO convinced he knows how to fix this _because he’s Iron Man_ , he’s the hero, the genius, and he’s gotten so good at the sacrifice thing… It pisses Pepper off so much she breaks up with _him_. 

* * *

**Civil War**

She follows the Avengers/Sokovia Accords story in the news only because that’s all anyone is talking about.  It’s a little surprising that Iron Man signs immediately.  Government oversight and bureaucratic bullshit is not something Tony Stark suffers lightly.  Though, given the last year, it’s not really ‘lightly’ any more.  The thought does briefly cross her mind that maybe he’s doing this for her _._   

Maybe it's because, Steve's birth certificate and Thor's... alien divinity notwithstanding, Tony's the oldest of the original Avengers still Avenging.  She did watch the presentation at MIT after it was uploaded, and it seems pretty clear to her that he's still obsessed with his legacy.  And of course it figures he'd rather stamp 'Tony Stark' on a roomful of undergrads with a grant than make a successor to his genius the old-fashioned way.

-

She’s listed as one of Rhodey’s emergency contacts.  So she gets calls from the hospital and the Avengers liaison and from Tony.  She almost sends him to voicemail but changes her mind.  

The first thing out of his mouth is an apology.  She can’t say for sure whose influence that is.  Then he says he’s got to go punch stupid Steve in his stupid teeth so if she has time, could she sit with Rhodey for the next day or so.

Of course she can.  She sits with him through the tests and the doctors and the little drone that Friday controls buzzing above them.  

“What happened to ‘don’t get caught in the crossfire’?” she asks softly.

 

Pepper has a routine now and it just figures it’d be the military man as the cause.  Tony would never cope with something as predictable as a routine.  It helps that she has, over the last few years, been able to find regional leads she can depend on and delegate things to and that the business world has mostly separated Stark Industries from the Avengers.  She is able to spend eight hours a day working and then a couple hours with Rhodey who is bored out of his skull.  Everyone actively avoids any reference to Tony Stark or Iron Man.

 

They’re watching _Spaceballs_ when he starts poking her.  

“You have no idea how much I wanted someone to feed me that line in Afghanistan.”

On screen, Stormtrooper knock-offs are combing the desert.

“Three months, no one set me up.  It would have been great.”  He mouths ‘we ain’t found shit!’ with the actors while Pepper discreetly checks the PCA screen for the last time Rhodey pushed the morphine button.

 

Today’s visit coincides with Happy’s.  He’s got a plush platypus from Tony that Rhodey refuses to allow in the room and a six pack of non-alcoholic beer that does get accepted with a despondent sigh.  They’re watching some BBC drama when Happy’s phone goes off.  Pepper nearly drops her tablet when she hears some _teenager_ on the line.  Happy is happy to complain about his babysitting gig and then Rhodey tells them about what the kid did in Germany and through it all, Pepper picks out pieces of Tony and the fact he’s mentoring a high school super hero is somehow… not as awful as she probably would have thought a year ago.  

* * *

**Homecoming**

Rhodey is finally out of the hospital and he's moving to the Avengers (can it really still be called that?) facility upstate.  He does tell her that he understands if she's too busy to visit him.  She tells him not to be stupid and reminds him that technically  _she_ owns the jet he'll be taking up.  

  


Vision is there when they step out of the plane.  Pepper doesn't need an Infinity Stone to know that they need a moment, so she excuses herself once they reach the lobby.  She finds herself outside the lab, without quite realizing her feet have taken her there.  Friday opens the door without saying anything.  The first thing she sees is the shield.  Captain America's shield is strung up like a range target and it looks like it's been through a lot more than a war.  

"He knew."

She turns.  Tony doesn't actually look too bad considering.

"He killed them.  Barnes did.  The car... my parents- that's why he ran.  And Rogers _knew_."

It takes Pepper a minute to figure out what Tony is saying.  She remembers when Barnes disappeared months ago; everyone cared, but the only person who was  _worried_ was Steve.  Everyone just assumed that he needed some space, and they were all (except Steve) inclined to give it to him.  But if he remembered _that_... no wonder he left.

It's the most natural thing in the world for Pepper to hold out her arms and let Tony stumble into them.  

"I got you."

"I know."

-

"FBI or Homeland Security?"

Rhodey finishes adjusting his leg braces before looking up.  "What?"

"FBI or Homeland Security," Tony repeats, giving Pepper a look of pain.  "Were you not paying attention?"

"Nope.  What do you need the FBI for?"

"FBI, got it, okay. I have to make a call." Tony pecks her on the cheek and jumps off the couch.  "Or more like, Hill needs to make a call for me. Friday, where is Moneypenny?"

"Man, am I going to have to grovel?  Without even knowing why."  

"Maria wouldn't make you grovel for that," Pepper reassures him.  "Maybe play up the leg braces for a while though.  It's the kid.  He found a bunch of guys dealing in weaponized alien artifacts.  Tony is getting used to this 'proper channels' thing so..."  Pepper holds out her hands.

"Right, FBI or Homeland Security.  What do you think about him?"

"Tony or Peter?"

"Both I guess. Start with the kid."

"Haven't met him.  I only have Happy and Tony's opinions but...  He seems like a good investment."  Which is high praise coming from her.

"And Tony?"

Pepper thinks for a minute.  "I wouldn't change him for the world."


End file.
